Katie Thompson

It’s hard to believe we are already into week 4 of home preschool. We’ve already covered so much, yet we’re still just getting started!

We’re settled into our daily routine now and are adjusting really well. The kids are very enthusiastic and some days they’re at their table waiting on me to get started! Hamilton even said to me one day, “I love homeschool!” That made me really happy to hear.

In the meantime, my magical cart of homeschool supplies has continued to fill up, and I’ve added a few more awesome resources I want to share!

First, we start every day learning the date, weather, and season using this awesome wall calendar, which was the tool I was most excited about getting for some reason!

Next, we do a few pages out of our workbooks, which is a favorite activity of Hamilton’s. We cover different subjects every day, and rotate between basic preschool workbooks and these great workbooks for Kindergarteners that come in several different subjects.

We’ve continued our letter of the day exercises, and do at least one wipeable workbook page, one letter tracing page, and a related craft or activity for a new letter every day. We also started learning our letters 1 – 10 in Japanese! I’d would definitely like to add more foreign language activities to our regular curriculum.

The highlight of this past week for the kids had to be trying out our new slime kit. They love slime but I have been hesitant to bring a lot of sticky stuff into the house, mainly because I’m pretty sure my parents cut at least a whole pack of gum and other gunk out of my long curly hair as a kid. That being said I really liked this kit! It comes with everything you need, including tubs of pre-made slime in many different colors, glitter, and other add-ins. The slime itself isn’t incredibly sticky, and cleans up super easily. If you must slime, then give this kit a try!

The best thing I’ve discovered in all of this is just how wonderful it is to have this opportunity to bond with my kids. Being a disabled parent has required us to find a different balance than most parents are used to in a world that isn’t always accessible for me. While there are some physical limitations, there are so many things disabled parents can do, we just do it differently! AND, we can do extra cool things like ride our kids around on our laps in our wheelchairs. That’s my favorite! The joy I feel when I discover I can do something awesome for my kids will never get old.

It also makes me incredibly happy to see them become more independent every day. We cheer each other on as we all learn and grow together, and it’s truly been great for us.

That’s not to say that this isn’t hard, or that things aren’t so great sometimes. There were a few nights last week where the kids were not sleeping well, so we all hit the snooze button and slept in on two different days. Of course that meant school started later those days, and I discovered that late-morning starts were still doable, while early afternoon was just a little too late as the kids were pretty tired and antsy by that point in the day.

We also ended one day early when dad came home with happy meals for lunch, so we finished up some activities Saturday morning. It’s been really nice to have that flexibility and be able to go along with whatever the days brings us.

Lastly, I recently had the amazing opportunity to share our story with the Momability project! The project’s creator Angel Hardy Heinz and I sat down and talked about my experiences as a mother with disability and chronic illness, how we are adjusting to home preschool, and so much more. It’s an honor to be included in a project providing an important platform for disabled and chronically ill mothers. You can read about my interview and the project here.